Francis Teo, head of Setia City Convention Centre, was elected as president of the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS), for the 2020-2022 term at the association’s 30th Annual General Meeting.
Teo takes over the reins from Vincent Lim, who has served the association as president for the past three consecutive terms.
During his acceptance speech, Teo voiced his hopes that the new committee members would lead MACEOS with dedication, commitment, and passion in facing the challenge that is impacting the business events industry.
He elaborated: “We have to learn to change the way we operate in this industry. We have to learn to pivot and also embrace event digitalisation. We believe that event digitalisation will complement our industry but would never replace it.
“We also need to be less dependent on international markets. Instead, we must learn to create opportunities for ourselves. We need to network more, connect, and collaborate with each other so that we can survive this period together.”
Lim said in his outgoing speech: “The early days of the pandemic was a very intense period. However, that didn’t stop us from playing our role as industry advocates through Zoom meetings, webinar programmes, members’ survey, information updates, governmental meetings, media interviews by local news/international news agencies, and press releases.
“We also worked closely with the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB), Business Events Council Malaysia (BECM), and various government ministries to formulate the Business Events Standard Operating Procedures. This was eventually submitted, approved, and accepted by the Malaysian National Security Council,” he added.
Lim added that MACEOS would also be able to attract new and younger members to take on an active role in the association.
During his tenure as president, Lim was instrumental in the formation of BECM, which was an initiative of MyCEB.
